Employment practices liability risk

You're at risk of an employment claim from the moment you interview a prospective employee. For example, if you choose not to hire the interviewee, that individual could allege some sort of discrimination.

Or, if you hire that person and later fire them due to poor attendance, that discharged employee could claim wrongful termination.

Develop a handbook detailing your company's employment policies and procedures for disciplining or terminating an employee. Make sure all employees read the handbook and sign a statement to that effect.

Create a job description for each position that clearly defines expectations of skills and performance.

Conduct periodic performance reviews of employees and carefully note the results in the employee's file.

Develop a screening and hiring program to weed out unsuitable candidates on paper before calling them to interview in person.

Conduct background checks on all possible candidates and avoid hiring workers with a history of alcohol or substance abuse.

Institute a zero tolerance policy regarding discrimination, substance abuse and any form of harassment. Make sure you have an "open door" policy in which employees can report infractions without fear of retribution.

Create an effective record-keeping system to document employee issues as they arise, and what the company did to resolve those issues.

Employment practices liability insurance coverage

The cost of insuring your business for EPLI coverage depends on a variety of factors, such as the number of people you employ, if you've had prior suits lodged against the company, the percentage of employee turnover, and if you have established rules and practices in place. Depending on the size of the company, EPLI can be offered as an endorsement to a Business Owners Policy (BOP), or as a specific stand-alone policy.

EPLI coverage is usually written on a claims-made basis. This means the incident resulting in the claim had to occur during the coverage period. Because employment claims often come months or even years after the alleged incident, an employer might be vulnerable if the insurance coverage was dropped or if tail coverage (liability insurance that extends beyond the end of the policy period) wasn't purchased.

By purchasing employment practices liability coverage, companies may decrease their chance of being a target of a lawsuit. That’s because most insurers will review a company's employment practices and make recommendations to reduce their risk before insuring the company.

Contact Tonry Insurance Group today or get an EPLI Quick Quote online to get more information about Employment Practice Liability Insurance.

The Massachusetts Commissioner of Insurance has approved a Stipulation for the general revision of workers' compensation rates, effective 12:01 A.M., July 1, 2018 that generates an overall average decrease of 12.9% for Massachusetts workers’ compensation rates.

Download the Tonry Topic for changes to manual rates, averages by industry, experience rating, deductible credits, and commonly used classifications. Changes to workers' compensation rates will be applied to new and renewal policies with effective dates on or after July 1st.

Effective October 21, 2017, customers will be eligible to renew their licenses or ID cards online for two consecutive renewal periods. This will result in approximately 30,000 additional renewal transactions eligible to be processed online each month. Fewer in-person customers will make it easier for the RMV team to attend ATLAS training and prepare for the March 26, 2018 ATLAS rollout. This will also allow customers to keep their current photo images for five additional years.